Anonymous sources over at MacRumors have claimed that they’re expecting Apple to announce new products in the week beginning 20 March. Although vague about the products, a number of Japanese analysts at Mac Otakara have predicted that it will be the 9.7 inch iPad Pro and are basing this on both supply chain information and the lack of a scheduled Apple event in the next week.
Apple recently sent out invites to the media for a launch event taking place next week therefore it’s very possible that the release of the ‘iPad Pro 2’ will be announced through press release rather than a launch event. Analyst from KGI Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo, expects Apple to release a low-cost 9.7 inch iPad Pro this year with the current A9X chip but did not express any thoughts toward an entirely new model of the same size with upgraded features. For an iPad that is only said to have a small upgrade, a press release may therefore be the best option. As well as it’s lower-cost, the only new feature of the iPad is said to be quad microphones, although Mac Octakara have suggested that we may also see a faster Apple A10X chip.
As well as the 9.7 inch iPad Pro, Apple are said to soon be releasing a 10.5 inch iPad Pro with slimmer bezels as well as an update 12.9 inch model not long after. A few reports have suggested that a 7.9 inch model may be released but this has been met with disagreement from analysts who have suggested that an update to the iPad mini 4 is more likely.
It seems that new iPads are certainly on the horizon although further plans from Apple remain vague. If a launch event were to take place later this month (as one rumor suggests) it would most likely take place sometime between 27-31 March if the 10-day media buffer was considered. The rumor explains that this event would involve the release of the new iPad Pro lineup, a larger iPhone SE model with 128GB storage and new Apple watch bands. This report also claimed that Apple would be introducing a red option for the iPhone 7 and 7 plus as part of the (PRODUCT)RED campaign. Realistically, we could be waiting as long as the WWDC 2017 in June to find out anything.
